NFL monitoring Hurricane Hilary’s potential threat to Saints-Chargers game

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (WVUE) - The NFL is keeping a close eye on Hurricane Hilary’s forecast, but as of Friday afternoon is not anticipating that it will impact the Saints’ preseason game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, according to Fox 8 Saints Analyst Jeff Duncan.

The Saints and Chargers are expected to kick off at 6 p.m. CST at SoFi Stadium.

“We continue to monitor the weather and will (update the situation) if anything changes,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Friday.

Hurricane Hilary grew rapidly to Category 4 strength off Mexico’s Pacific coast on Friday and could reach Southern California as the first tropical storm there in 84 years, causing “significant and rare impacts” including extensive flooding.

On Friday, for the first time ever, the National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm watch for Southern California. No tropical storm has made landfall in Southern California since Sept. 25, 1939, according to the National Weather Service.

The NHC says Hilary had sustained winds near 145 mph (230 kph) at 6 a.m. and was expected to continue its rapid intensification through Friday before starting to weaken. It will nevertheless still be a hurricane when it approaches Mexico’s Baja California peninsula on Saturday night, and will approach Southern California on Sunday as a tropical storm.

Early Friday, Hilary was centered about 360 miles (575 kilometers) south-southwest of Los Cabos on the southern tip of the Baja peninsula. It was moving northwest at 10 mph (17 kph), and was expected to turn further toward the north.

The Saints traveled to California for a series of joint practices that began Thursday.

“I love joint practices. I always loved joint practices, even with my time with the Raiders it gives you just different looks. You’re not just seeing one coverage. You get used to seeing the same guy line up, even if they’re disguising, you know what they’re playing because you’re used to seeing it. When you play a different defense, you’re allowed to get different looks and in the joint practices people show more. They’re going to show some more pressure. They’re going to show some more coverage variation and things like that. So you really get better with regular season type looks than you would in a preseason game,” said Derek Carr.

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